Norwegian Sigurd Johan Saure has traditional farmhouse brewing in his DNA. He comes from four centuries of beer brewing history. All on the same farm in Western Norway, from generations of the same family. And still using the same yeast his ancestors used. A living brewing legacy. So it’s fair to say that he knows a thing or two about Norwegian farmhouse brewing with kveik yeast.
Today he passes on the historic expertise from the family farm in Norway by holding courses in traditional farmhouse brewing. He also sells yeast rings in his online shop, plus dried yeast flakes of his own kveik – #8 Tormodgarden/Saure. Here he shares his method of correctly using a yeast ring.
Kveik yeast ring instructions
‘The general idea is that the yeast ring is used for drying, storing and pitching – and how it’s used differs from farm to farm here on the west coast of Norway!
There are several ways of using the yeast ring or yeast stock (a single piece of wood with lots of holes in it.) The basic idea is that it is used to catch the yeast (or kveik) from your brew and then hung up to dry. It could be in the brewing room, together with the open fermenting vessel or it could be stored in the attic – whichever is the driest / warmest spot you have.
Have your wort ready at pitching temp, and simply dump your yeast ring directly into the warm wort. The fermentation will start immediately and you would then pick the ring up and hang it to dry.
This method would ensure that you pitch the same yeast time after time, since you are only repitching the same yeast.
If you would like to harvest a fresher yeast, boil the yeast ring before dragging it through the krausen of the fermenting vessel on day 2 of the fermenting. Then your yeast is more likely to mutate, and it can develop over time.’
Buy a yeast ring and dried Kveik flakes direct from Norway!
Try #8 Tormodgarden/Saure kveik yeast owned by Sigurd Johan Saure himself.
Alcohol Tolerance: 15% | Attenuation: 79% | Max growth temperature: 42°C
Learn traditional kveik
homebrewing in Norway!
Sigurd Johan also offers some amazing courses in traditional brewing on the same 16th century Norwegian farm where his kveik yeast originated. One for the bucket list!
Read more about kveik yeast
[Feature image: Sigurd Johan Saure]